In linguistics, a cognate object (or cognate accusative) is a verb's object that is cognate with the verb. More specifically, the verb is one that is ordinarily intransitive (lacking any object), and the cognate object is simply the verb's noun form. For example, in the sentence He slept a troubled sleep, sleep is the cognate object of the verb slept. Cognate objects exist in many languages, including various unrelated ones; for example, they exist in Arabic, Chichewa, English, German, Hebrew, Icelandic, and Russian. ^*

Cognate objects in English

In English, the construction can occur with a number of intransitive verbs:

• He slept a troubled sleep. (i.e., He slept, and his sleep was troubled.)
• He laughed a bitter laugh. (i.e., He laughed bitterly.)
• He died a painful death. (i.e., He died painfully.)
• He dreamed a strange dream. (i.e., He dreamed, and his dream was strange.)
• He walked their walk and talked their talk. (i.e., He walked and talked as they did.)

In some of these cases, the cognate object allows for a simpler construction; in others, it may simply be chosen for idiomatic or rhetorical reasons. In general, the cognate object's modifiers are in some sense modifying the verb: for example, He slept a troubled sleep tells how he slept.

While a similar construction can occur with many transitive verbs — He drank his drink, for example — it is generally intended literally in these cases. For example, He drank his drink really tells what he drank, not how he drank. (It is possible to say, He drank a quick drink, but the cognate object is not necessary for this; it is also possible to say, He drank a quick coffee.) For this reason, these are not generally considered "cognate object" constructions, even though they literally contain objects that are cognate with their verbs.

See also

• Pleonasm (the use of more words than necessary to express an idea)
• Polyptoton (a stylistic scheme in which words derived from the same root are repeated)